The way college students shop for groceries is changing, and large grocers such as Kroger are adjusting to meet their needs.
Some Ohio University shoppers are using technology to supplement traditional grocery shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. According to a Nielsen report from 2015 titled “The Future of Grocery,” 30 percent of people ages 21 to 34 — and 28 percent of people ages 15 to 20 — said they ordered groceries online for home delivery.
Daisy Howard, a junior studying exercise physiology, uses Amazon’s Prime Pantry to order non-perishable grocery items instead of going to a local store.
“It’s made (shopping) a lot easier because now when I go grocery shopping I’m in and out, instead of running all around the store trying to find a million different things,” Howard said.
Prime Pantry allows customers to fill shipping boxes with eligible food and household items such as cereal and shampoo, then delivers the items for a flat $5.99 delivery fee. The boxes come in different sizes and can hold up to 45 pounds, according to Amazon’s website.
Howard said she typically uses the service to order items such as pasta sauce, coffee and almond milk, but still prefers going to Wal-Mart to shop for meat and produce.
“I’m a distance runner, and I really have to watch what I eat, so I make sure to get a lot of fresh things, too,” Howard said.
The Kroger in Athens is hoping to appeal to another consumer group by increasing the company’s e-commerce presence.
Lamaur Buck, who graduated from OU in 2016 and worked at the Athens Kroger for five years, said college-aged shoppers are essential to the store’s success.
“The majority of our business is students,” he said. “During the fall, our sales increase. I mean, they nearly double.”
Buck now serves as the e-commerce manager for the company’s Columbus division. The position was created to keep up with the increasing demand for online grocery shopping, he said.
“Digital natives,” Millennials and members of Generation Z are maturing and driving the growth of online grocery shopping, according to Nielsen.
“It’s the next big thing, and it’s just what we have to do,” Buck said. “We’re seeing a big percentage of sales go that way in test stores.”
Some people are still shopping in local stores, but they are using technology to cut down on costs. Jessica Robinson, a senior studying political science pre-law, said she uses the smartphone app connected to her family’s Kroger Plus Card to search for coupons while she shops.
“I do check, just in case, because every 50 cents counts,” Robinson said.
The e-commerce trend isn’t only for millennial shoppers, though.
“We’re noticing that bringing the e-commerce side to the business is not just changing things for millennials,” Buck said. “Moms, people who thought they would never go that way, never go the e-commerce route, are now switching over because they don’t want to bring their kids in.”
Howard said she shops for groceries differently than her parents and grandparents, but her fiancé’s mom also uses Prime Pantry.
“You kind of have to be willing to embrace the fact that everything’s changing,” Howard said.
@mayganbeeler
